Page 22 of Own the Eights
Danielle pressed her hands together as if she were giving thanks or trying to show off her perfectly manicured nails, probably the latter. “Yes! Completely healthy, and we were able to find the sweet thing a wonderful home with a loving family who just happens to be loyal DannyLyfe subscribers.”
Georgie’s eyes went wide. “You did all that before coming here today?”
“Well, of course, we worked in the garden then donated the organic produce to a homeless shelter before we left on our run,” Danielle answered, then glanced at her brother. “Kind of a light day for us.”
“Danielle and Daniel, meet Georgie Jensen and Jordan Marks,” Hector said, gesturing for the Dannies to join them on the couch.
“You’ll be competing against each other to see who wins the contest to become a CityBeat contributor,” Bobby added.
“A competition?” Daniel echoed.
Hector handed the Dannies a schedule. “While your blog has the most followers, we wanted to add a little twist to CityBeat’s Battle of the Blogs, that’s what we’re calling it now, and give two other bloggers a chance to compete. Jordan and Georgie blog separately but will be working together during the competition period. Since you two are a team, we didn’t think it fair for Georgie and Jordan to be alone.”
Agitation surged through his body.Fair? How could Hector and Bobby not see that tethering him to Georgie wasn’t giving him an advantage at all? He’d be better off on his own.
But that wasn’t an option.
Danielle’s serene expression cracked. “If they’re working together, how will you decide who wins? And, you’re still offering the ten-thousand-dollar prize money, right?” she tagged on a bit too sweetly.
Bobby shared a quick, inquisitive glance with Hector then nodded. “Yes, the winner will still receive the prize money, and we have a two-tiered scoring apparatus in place. Georgie and Jordan’s likes will be combined since the two of them together have about as many followers as you and your brother do on the DannyLyfe blog. If you’re ahead, then you win. If Georgie and Jordan are ahead, we’ll determine the winner by which one of them individually garnered the most likes.”
The Dannies shared a glance, their eyeballs bouncing up and down as if they were speaking some silent retinal language. With all the work it looked like they’d had done, he wouldn’t be surprised if they had transmitters implanted in their brains.
“I see,” Daniel answered, sharing an uneasy expression with his sibling.
“Not to worry! Daniel and I are always up for some good clean competition,” Danielle added as she turned up the wattage on her grin.
Hector shared another curious look with Bobby then clapped his hands. “Excellent! Now, all of you have signed the contract to compete. But I wanted to remind you that, at any time, CityBeat could send media to film or photograph you. We’re sinking quite a bit of advertising dollars into promoting the competition, and you’ll need to be ready for anything.”
Shit!
How the hell was the poster girl for cardigans supposed to help him, the Marks Perfect Ten Mindset creator, expand his brand and compete on a level with the Dannies? And be recorded doing it?
He silenced his internal rant and thought of Deacon.
Who taught you to be the best?
What would Deac do? He’d fucking kill it. He wouldn’t let any obstacle get in his way of victory, and neither would Jordan Marks.
He was not a loser. Not anymore.
He glanced at Georgie, twisting the hem of her skirt. The skirt that, even in a parallel universe, didn’t match her cardigan. He released an irritated breath. He could knock out a thousand burpees easily, but working with this train wreck might be his greatest challenge.
Bobby pushed up his glasses, then tapped his iPad. “In thirty seconds, you’ll receive a text message with instructions regarding the first challenge. Sometimes, the four of you will be together. Sometimes, you’ll be on your own. You’re expected to write a blog post about the challenge no more than twenty-four hours after it’s been completed.”
“And don’t forget to always have your phones with you. We’ll send each challenge event to you via text message,” Hector added, sharing another glance with Bobby.
Jordan watched the CityBeat founders closely. Yes, this was a competition, but it seemed like Bobby and Hector had something else going on beyond just crowning a winner. But he didn’t have time to give the eccentric tech giants’ motives another thought when a chorus of cell phone pings rang out, and the Dannies sprang up and raced to the door.
He stared at Georgie, who hadn’t moved a muscle.
“We’ve got a meeting with our engineers now, but feel free to stay as long as you like,” Bobby said as he joined Hector and left the giant playroom of an office.
The frosted doors closed, and he turned to his partner. “This is it. The competition just started, Georgie.”
“I know,” she answered, folding her hands in her lap and closing her eyes.
Sweet baby Jesus!
